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Cadence acquires Bangalore-based Cosmic Circuits [India Business] [Times of India](Times of India Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) BANGALORE: Cosmic Circuits, the Bangalore-based provider of semiconductor IPs (intellectual property), has been acquired by Cadence Design Systems, the US company that provides software tools to design integrated circuits and printed circuit boards. The value of the deal was not disclosed. Cosmic was founded in 2005 by Ganapathy Subramaniam, who had previously worked in semiconductor major Texas Instruments for 16 years. The company has over 300 IPs in what is called the analog and mixed signal circuit space. Every year some 75 million chips are shipped with Cosmic IPs. Analog and mixed signal chips (the latter combines analog and digital circuits on a single chip) are present in almost every electronic product. Analog chips are what read and process speech, music, video, light, pressure, temperature. Martin Lund, Cadence's senior vice president of R&D, told TOI that Cosmic's IPs would help Cadence offer customers a more complete selection of IPs for mobile devices and automotive infotainment. "Their low-power IP solutions will also be relevant in the area of internet-of-things that we are increasingly getting into," he said. Internet of things refers to the trend of making everyday machines and devices talk to each other, and be controlled through the internet. Lund said customers prefer single solutions, and the objective would be to integrate Cosmic IPs with Cadence IPs to offer more complete solutions. Rival Synopsys currently has the most number of IPs in the analog and mixed signal space. Subramaniam said the IP business had become very competitive with a lot of players, and a consolidation was inevitable. Asked about the value of the deal, he declined to provide a figure, but said it was a "very good exit". "It shows that high tech IP companies of high value can be created in India," he said. Srini Rajam's Ittiam is another Bangalore-based company that is strong in semiconductor IPs. Subramaniam, who grew up in Sivakasi in Tamil Nadu and Bangalore, will continue to be in business. Cosmic had an integrated circuit (IC) design business as well, which has now been transferred to a new company called Cirel Systems where Subramaniam and other shareholders in Cosmic will be the main shareholders. This business ships about 2 million chips a month. About 100 of Cosmic's 150 employees will move to Cadence and the remaining will now be in Cirel. Most of Cosmic's management team also moves to Cirel. "We will focus on developing full chips," Subramaniam said. (c) 2013 Bennett, Coleman & Company Limited |